It is a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun is shining and the sky is blue, what a perfect day to kick off the field competition at home against Blauw-Zwart from Wierden. Something you wouldn’t immediately expect: they play in blue-black kits. There was no sign of a personnel shortage on Vakgericht’s side. With 2 spectators, as many referees and Dennis Denise’s debut in the weekend team, it was clear that we did not need any substitutes at all. After Bert gave us a little talk on how to best beat the opponent, including a well-researched situation sketch about their most likely strategy, we could not wait to start the game.
During the opening stages of the match, the visitors took the lead and soon found themselves on a comfortable 2-4 lead. However, Vakgericht’s warriors did not give up and with a couple of impressive nice attacks and some tactical changes, they tried to turn the tide. It did not immediately lead to more goals on our side, but the opponent’s scoring ability was definitely halted. We went into half-time with a score of 4-6 and after a short pep talk by Bert and some refreshing lemonade, we were ready for the second half. Here we tried a number of tactics that nearly worked, such as Denise’s double header or Joost’s knee-sliding strategy, but despite the visitors substituting players up to three times they didn’t manage to dictate the game anymore, which says quite a bit about our ability to cope with fatigue. Although both teams managed to score 4 goals in the second half, I would really say we won this one, simply because we did not substitute.
In the end, we had to concede the points to Zwart-Blauw and as we were defeated by 8-10. But still, we can look back on a great match, where not even a single free ball or penalty throw was given. The season has only just started, but we showed some pretty good play, which we can build on. Conclusion: things can only get better in the next few games!
We congratulate Blauw-Zwart on their deserved victory and thank Oscar and Daniel for both volunteering to referee a half. You really are the best!